Spanish oil company Repsol and Alliance Oil said in an joint statement on Saturday they have signed an agreement to form a joint venture for exploration and production in Russia. Alliance Oil will hold a 51 percent stake and contribute in the Volga-Urals region, while Repsol will hold the other 49 percent and make an initial cash investment to finance future projects, the groups said.
Repsol already owns a 3.47 percent stake in Alliance Oil after the merger between Alliance and West Siberian Resources in 2008. Alliance Oil's main assets are in Russia and Kazakhstan. It controls the Khabarovsk oil refinery in Russia's far east with annual crude throughput of 4 million tonnes, owns 24 tank farms and more than 250 pump stations in far-east regions.
Alliance Oil is controlled by the Bazhaev family and is part of OAO Alliance group, founded in 1998 by Zia Bazhaev, a Chechen businessman. Repsol, Spain's largest oil company, also owns a 74.9 percent stake in Eurotek-Yugra, which holds exploration and production licenses in the Karabashsky-1 and -2 blocks in the prolific West-Siberia basin.